They moved cautiously through the thicket when, suddenly, Luo Tian sensed a disturbance in the air.
"Something is approaching," she warned, her voice tense.
Her words brought everyone to a dead halt.
"Junior Brother Su, Junior Sister Lin, get back!" Shi Lan, the long-haired disciple, ordered with authority.
"What is it, Sister Shi Lan?" Lin Xian asked, going on high alert.
"Sister Lin, stay behind me," Su Feng intervened, pulling the young girl behind his back, his face darkened with concern.
Ignoring the questions, Shi Lan stepped forward and shouted: "Zhong Ling, Fan Qianxue!"
The two reacted in unison. Zhong Ling immediately drew various objects from her storage ring; copper coins and formation flags flew through the air, moving according to her will. In less than a minute, a Defensive Formation was established around them.
Fan Qianxue positioned herself at the center of the formation alongside her companions as a longbow materialized in her hands. Without hesitation, she fired an arrow into the sky to illuminate the area. For her part, Shi Lan unsheathed eight swords: one in her right hand, while the other seven hovered in a lethal arc behind her back.
"It's here!" Fan Qianxue screamed.
At that instant, a massive shadow lunged at them with terrifying speed. Shi Lan charged forward to intercept it; her seven flying swords projected like lightning bolts behind her to impale the enemy, but the blades only cut through thin air. The shadow had vanished.
"Zhong, Fan!" Shi Lan exclaimed, having lost the trail.
Zhong Ling, at the heart of the formation, closed her eyes and channeled her energy. Suddenly, countless Qi chains erupted from the earth and lunged toward a specific direction. The shadow, which was attempting to flank them, was enveloped by the chains like an energy cocoon.
However, before they could sigh in relief, the chains began to creak under brutal internal pressure, shattering into a thousand pieces. Fan Qianxue, who already had her bowstring drawn to the limit, released the arrow just as the chains gave way. The projectile slipped through the broken links and triggered a massive explosion that finished destroying the remains of the spiritual binding.
"Is it dead?" Lin Xian asked in a thin voice, but Su Feng shook his head in silence.
From the center of the explosion emerged a shrill cry that shook the surrounding trees. As the smoke cleared, the figure became clear: a gigantic ape with bristling fur and bloodshot eyes stood before them.
"It is the sovereign of this area of the range... a Third-Stage beast," Sister Shi Lan declared, her face grim.
A Third-Stage beast was the equivalent of a cultivator in the Golden Core realm. Since magical beasts naturally possessed sturdier bodies and superior vitality to humans, facing one was even more dangerous than fighting a cultivator of the same level.
Su Feng and the others turned pale as they understood the magnitude of the danger. Shi Lan lunged forward again to restrain the creature's advance, while Fan Qianxue fired constant volleys of arrows to help her maintain the pressure.
"Su Feng, Lin Xian, go ahead!" Zhong Ling shouted from the heart of the formation while channeling energy to reinforce the defenses. "We will catch up soon. Take the mortal with you!"
Su Feng nodded, understanding that his presence in a combat of this level was more of a hindrance than a help. He took Lin Xian and Luo Tian by the arms, and his figure vanished instantly. Using his movement technique, the Instant Step, his speed increased exponentially, allowing them to appear far from the battlefield in a matter of seconds.
Upon arrival, Su Feng released them and fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Executing such a technique consumed a massive amount of spiritual energy, and the burden increased significantly when transporting two additional people.
"Are you alright, Brother Su?" Lin Xian asked as she tried to support him. He nodded, his face pale from exhaustion.
Luo Tian was about to respond, but her gaze shifted to the side, and her eyes sparkled with intensity.
"Have we arrived?" she wondered in surprise, not expecting the escape to lead her directly to her destination.
Before her stood an ancient gate, so overgrown with vegetation that it was indistinguishable from the surrounding landscape. It stood in the middle of nowhere, with no walls or structures to support it. She approached it and began to pull away the vines with trembling hands.
"What are you doing?" Su Feng asked, struggling to stand.
Luo Tian did not answer. She felt along the stone surface until she found a hidden slot; she pulled out the jade pendant and fitted it into the mechanism. Instantly, the jade began to radiate a blinding light, and countless Immortal Patterns emerged from the relic to integrate into the mysterious gate.
The sky began to tremble and space itself slowly cracked. The gate, which previously seemed to lead nowhere, began to rise from the ground as the grime of countless millennia vanished, revealing a superb elegance.
The engravings and runes covering the threshold were so complex that merely attempting to decipher them caused a stabbing pain in the mind; they were revelations of such a high level that even a Nascent Soul realm expert would be left dumbfounded.
Su Feng and Lin Xian watched the scene in absolute awe. They finally understood what was before them: for a young mortal girl, found by pure chance, to possess the key to a secret realm was like finding a legendary treasure in the middle of a wasteland; an event that defied all logic.
"Who are you...?" Su Feng tried to ask, but his words were lost in the void.
Suddenly, a boundless light burst from the slowly opening gate. The roar of the outside world disappeared, replaced by an absolute and profound silence that seemed to devour everything.
Su Feng felt his consciousness fragmenting and his mind dispersing before the overwhelming power emanating from the threshold, plunging him into a state of total void as the secret realm claimed his presence.